This podcast is brought to you by Barry Brothers and Rudd, sponsors of great conversation.

Welcome to The Spectator podcast. I'm Lara Prendergast. It's been a difficult week for Hillary

Clinton, not only was she diagnosed with a bout of pneumonia, but she's also found herself

under fire for labelling half of Donald Trump's supporters

as a basket of deplorables. These so-called deplorables are the subject of Christopher Caldwell's

cover piece, in which he argues that Trump's pandering to the large group that is loyal to him

is a more efficient strategy than making a play for minority votes. So, was Clinton's choice of phrasing a conscious attempt to stifle insecure Middle America?

And how can Trump convince America's forgotten majority to turn out for him?

I'm joined now by Christopher Caldwell from Washington and the Spectator's deputy editor, Freddie Gray.

So Christopher, why are white people being drawn to Donald Trump?

Well, you know, you can't necessarily say that they're being driven to Trump because

the Republican Party has always been, at least since the civil rights era, very reliant on the

votes of white people. I mean, the Democrats are very quick to say that it is an overwhelmingly white party.

And, you know, in the last election, the Republican Party at the presidential level,

the Republicans got almost 60% of white people's votes.

So it's not as much of an evolution as it might seem, you know.

And Freddie, what are the main grievances of white America at the moment?

Well, I mean, I think in that fascinating point that Chris makes, the life expectancy for white

Americans is going down. And for that to happen in the world's most developed country is staggering.

There's a real serious problem with white America and white Americans are angry and there's

been a lot written about this. But the way in

which Trump appeals to white people is fascinating because he seems to appeal very successfully to a small

...